Page 148 of The Powers of Nyx

The nerves before were nothing compared to what I was feeling as we stepped inside.

Ivy let out a soft gasp as the door locked behind us.

“Wow. This is…” She trailed off as she leaned into my chest.

“Welcome to the Meris room,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Tonight, it’s ours.”

The room was built within some old caves beneath the lake and waterfall, with half of it submerged in water. There were steps leading down into the pool, and a rocky shoreline with clear water. Where we stood, however, there was a table already set up with dinner, as well as a sun bed decorated with fucking rose petals.

Ivy saw it the same moment I did, because she giggled while I groaned. “I’ll kill him.”

“Kill who?” she asked, turning in my grip to loop her arms around my shoulders.

I glanced down at her and then back at the petals. “Adrian.”

“Really?” Ivy lifted a brow before pressing up on her toes to kiss my jaw. “This place is beautiful, Rowan.”

“It was Adrian’s idea,” I admitted, sighing. “I was too busy freaking out.”

Her fingers trailed through my hair as she tipped my head down so our lips could meet. It was a sweet, gentle kiss, but with her body pressed against mine and my hands on her hips, it might as well have been the beginning of the end. She tasted like coffee and vanilla, sweet and addictive on my tongue. My fingers bit into her flesh as her nails softly scraped my scalp, and my dick hardened painfully in my jeans.

I walked her back into a column and deepened the kiss, pressing as far as I could into her soft body. Ivy made a sound in the back of her throat.

“Fuck,” I breathed, pulling back. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

Ivy shook her head. “No, of course not,” she said, trailing her hands down my shoulders to my chest. “Are you okay?”

A lump formed in my throat as I released a shaky breath. “More than okay, Ivy.”

“We go at your pace, okay?” She wound her arms around my shoulders loosely, though she trailed her dark eyes down my body.

“Hey, eyes up here, seductress,” I teased.

A half-smile toyed at her swollen lips. For the first time since the explosion, a hint of her magic rolled over my skin. The hairon my arms prickled, and her power reached for something within me. A deep urge that needed to be sated.

The need to claim her. Mate her. Make her mine.

I saw the change in her eyes, the flash of hunger that had her chewing her bottom lip and arching into me. Her lower abdomen pressed into a rather delicate member of my body, a member that wished to be inside her.

Fuck. Keep thinking those sorts of thoughts, and I wouldn’t last long enough for our souls to connect and the bond to be formed.

Nope. I’ll fucking come in my pants before I even get past the kissing stage of the night.

Ivy’s eyes narrowed, and a sly smile tugged at her lips. “What are you thinking about, Rowan?”

“I was thinking...” I stopped and pushed her back into the column. “I was thinking about how much of a mess I am because of you. How badly I need you.”

“I’m yours,” she said, surprisingly gentle. “Whatever you want.”

I swallowed thickly and traced my eyes over her, from the way her chest rose and fell with sharp breaths, down to the swell of her breasts which threatened to spill out from the silk of the dress. I followed the length of her, to the softness of her stomach, and the way the skirt of the dress tightened around her thick thighs.

She was letting me have my way with her. How I wanted. And I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let that go to waste.

I dropped a light kiss to her lips and traced the length of her body with more, cupping her breasts in my hands, feeling their weight, kneading them as I peppered kisses across her flesh. Each one ignited a fire in my belly, burning with the urge toclaim her. To finally have our magic join.

A small part of me feared her accessing my magic. My affinity. It terrified me that she might see what I’ve seen, look into the horrible future I couldn’t escape.

But the fear washed away as soon as her fingers ran through my hair. The gentleness of the touch was all I needed, like a promise that despite the terrible, there was hope.

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